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Thursday, 20 October 2011

A revolution in pillow making...?

Whilst tweeting with Julia from Gone to Earth last week, she mentioned that she had a new product in the shop. A fusible fleece which piqued my interest so I ordered some to see what could be done with it. Here's the pillow I made.

I started with this beautiful mini quilt made by Tia Camp Follower Bag Lady which I saw and instantly told Tia I needed to pretty much downright copy. And seeing as my Etchings Wovens FQ stack was calling out to me, I rustled up a pillow.

18" X 28" - it is the size of a standard UK pillow (and I mean pillow) so no cushion insert shopping needed - just steal a pillow from one of my many children, they'll never notice. Six wonky 6" stars, 2" scrappy stripes and hey presto. And then came the magical bit. I cut off a piece of the fusible fleece, ironed it on, quilted and bound and hey presto. No basting pins to take out as you go, no puckering because the fabric was attached to the fleece all over, no messy basting spray or pins and also no backing fabric because the back of the fusible fleece is nice and smooth. The fleece also quilts beautifully, and, from a quick afternoon old lady nap before pick-up time, is very comfy to nap on too.

I hear that people also use it for bags, mini quilts, purses, pouches and even door stops. If you're in the UK and want to try some, get in touch with Julia at Gone to Earth. I apologise for not researching stockists around the world but google "vilene fusible fleece" and you should find it. And, if you Etchings, you might also be interested in knowing that Julia has just taken delivery of some of the Cabbages and Roses Northcote Range new line - it will be listed very shortly in her shop. These are Moda fabrics designed in Britain for a Brit Shabby Chic look, I fell in love with them when I was working on my hexalong and managed to get my hands on a layer cake. Here they are made up in a fab union jack quilt.

I have wondered about fusible fleece- I think what I really need is to buy a batting/wadding/fleece samples pack,then I could try different brands, bamboo etc. - calling UK shops- do you stock such a thing? I fancy the fusible for bags and purses. Still loving your pillow!

ooh that's a fab pillow Lynne!! Thanks for the fusible fleece review I've been wanting to try this for bags but had no idea what it's like.For pillows it would save me the step of adding a muslin backing, that's excellent!

Love the pillow - I cheat and just use washable PVA glue to temporarily fix my batting to the fabrics - just a simple ribbon of glue then iron it down - made this up by doing the binding Sharon Schamber's way - works pretty well ;o)

Love the pillow - it would go with y Americana quilt so I might have to make one too.I use fusible 80/20 wadding by Hobbs for smaller projects, it's pretty good too. Hadn't heard of fusible fleece tho.

Oh Lynne I LOVE that pillow. And here I was just talking to a friend in Australia about our flags and saying that I cannot do the whole Red, White, and Blue thing...but your take is gorgeous. Hahahahaa, love it!

well I am thinking anything you do is time for me to take a nap( cause you make me tired) ..hence I have a pillow now too...love this one, and I use this magical stuff fuses on both sides...it works for me too...here here for anything that keeps us away from sprays...YOU make me smile ...

LOVE fusible fleece. I'm using it on all my bags now instead of interfacing which gets all wrinkly and icky when you turn them. I've just bought yards of the stuff for my Christmas cushion cover gifts - other bonus is that it doesn't shrink in the wash, taking your 18" cushion cover down to a 17"! Brilliant plan for making your covers pillow sized btw! I love everything about it.